‘Contests’ Category

Today I have a really extra-special surprise for everyone. I’m giving away a copy of a beautiful, powerful anthology that I was lucky enough to be a part of called THE V-WORD.

Yes, I took a photo of it on my bed, for thematic quality.

THE V-WORD was spearheaded and edited by the thoughtful, talented Amber J. Keyser. This anthology meets a need that desperately needs filling—a need for real experiences from real women about what it’s like to have sex for the first time.

Having my essay included in THE V-WORD has been a huge gift for me—a way to explore and process my own experience with messy first-time sex, and to pass what I’ve learned on to younger women in a world that often refuses to be straight or frank with them.

I was even given the privilege of writing a blog post, titled “Writing Compassion Into Truth,” about what it was like to write for THE V-WORD, over on Riveted Lit. This was an important post for me to write. My first experience was not pretty or pleasant, and it was easy to blame it on myself. (more…)

The third and final clue is live! Remember to snap a photo of yourself with the book and post it to Twitter or Facebook using the #HWFbookhunt tag!

Clue #1:

Of your clues, here’s the first:
To find your copy of How We Fall
Look in a bookish place
On a street that, if you’ll recall,
Is named for a great American author
Of a book called The Scarlet Letter

Clue #2:

You’ve found the place, now find the room
And How We Fall will be yours soon
Named in honor of our very own
Portland’s southeast mountain home
A sweet reward for your hard labor
So find the room that’s labeled…

Clue #3:

Despite all of my best-laid plans
How We Fall’s nearly in your hands.
Walk into the room, turn to your left.
You have it cornered.
The jig is up.
So find it where there should be cups.

The Mystery of…

The Hidden Signed Book!

Do you live in Portland, Oregon? Well, I’ve got a really cool surprise for you. Besides the fact that I also live in Portland, Oregon, which means we live in the same city, which is pretty cool.

But besides that! On Friday, November 14, I’m going to hide a signed copy of my authory-friend Kate Brauning’s new YA contemporary, HOW WE FALL, somewhere in the city—for you to find!

That’s right—not only is it a hardcover copy of a brand new, hard-cover book, and not only is it free, but it’s also lovingly signed by the author herself! Pretty sick swag, wouldn’tcha say?

So how do you get your paws on this sweet, signed book? Well, that’s a pretty good question.

1. I’ll be Tweeting and Facebooking (and now Tumblring) the official clues starting on the morning of Friday, November 14, using the #HWFbookhunt hashtag. I’ll drop another clue on Saturday, and another on Sunday (if the book hasn’t been found yet). So you better get out and start searching right away, in case someone beats you to it!

2. Then, if/when you find the book, take a photo of yourself with it and tag me (@kiersi) and @KateBrauning! (Or tag us on Facebook—you can find me here and Kate here.)

3. You win! You get to keep the book, read it, review it, tell people about it, whatever you want!

There are a couple of rules, of course, but they are totally cool, common-sense rules:

Anyone searching for this book may not cause damage or disrupt others in the areas they are searching. All local, state, and national laws must be obeyed during the search. Please respect the privacy and business policies of all residencies/businesses where you are searching.

I also want to point out that, due to it being Portland, the book is not going to be hidden in an outdoor location, so don’t bother, okay?

All right! Perfect! Just follow those simple steps, and you’re on your way to snagging a free, signed copy of HOW WE FALL. Awesome, right?

Now head on out there, share the contest with your fellow Portlanders (for clue brainstorming purposes, of course), and get that book! And please let me know if you have any questions.

Here’s a little blurb about HOW WE FALL:

Ever since Jackie moved to her uncle’s sleepy farming town, she’s been flirting way too much–and with her own cousin, Marcus.

Her friendship with him has turned into something she can’t control, and he’s the reason Jackie lost track of her best friend, Ellie, who left for…no one knows where. Now Ellie has been missing for months, and the police, fearing the worst, are searching for her body. Swamped with guilt and the knowledge that acting on her love for Marcus would tear their families apart, Jackie pushes her cousin away. The plan is to fall out of love, and, just as she hoped he would, Marcus falls for the new girl in town. But something isn’t right about this stranger, and Jackie’s suspicions about the new girl’s secrets only drive the wedge deeper between Jackie and Marcus–and deepens Jackie’s despair.

Then Marcus is forced to pay the price for someone else’s lies as the mystery around Ellie’s disappearance starts to become horribly clear. Jackie has to face terrible choices. Can she leave her first love behind, and can she go on living with the fact that she failed her best friend?

2. Tell your friends! Post it to Facebook or Twitter or whatever it is that cool people like you do when sharing something you like.

3. Request one! Want a cute little story (starring you) typed up on the funkiest of funky typewriters, then wrapped in a cute envelope that says it was hand-crafted for you, and then mailed to your front door? Of course you do. WHO WOULDN’T. Amirite?

It’s pretty apt that National Novel Writing Month (codenamed NaNoWriMo) follows right on the heels of Halloween–there is something truly terrifying about the prospect of cranking out that many words in such a small amount of time, and also, somehow, achieving a moderate level of coherence.

What is it?

In the month of November, masochists around the world hunch over their laptops and try to write 50,000 words in 30 days. It’s a test as much as it is a motivator–it’s for all those people who want to write a book, but just can’t buckle down and do it. (more…)

According to their website, entries “are not to exceed 1,500 words,” and the theme is China.

This does not mean the contestants have to write about China the nation nor take place in China, though those stories will be gladly read as anything else. The theme is open to interpretation and can center around China, the history of China, life in China, life after China, life without China, fortune cookies (which actually are not Chinese, but whatever, we don’t care, we are open to anything), grandma’s china plates, Chinese take-out, Shanghai, being shanghaied, stuff for sale at Target, trade deficits, foreign affairs, NAFTA, firecrackers or gunpowder, silk dresses, opium dens or railroads in the American Wild West, the struggle of Chinese immigrants to the West, Richard Nixon, Chinatown, or any other conceivable application of the theme “China.” We might not be ready to read Deadhead stories about China Cat Sunflower, but if that’s what you’ve got, send it in. We are always ready to be surprised.

Awesome.

The deadline is October 1st, 2012. Despite what it says on the website (2015?) they actually mean 2012.

The reward? A meager $50 USD, but that’s not the real prize. In addition to the bucks, you get:

AND, the “winning story will be read live, in whole or in part, at a H.A.L. LiT event in Shanghai by a regular contributor to H.A.L. Alternately, the winner may travel at his or her expense to perform the piece in person, or send an audio or video recording of the piece along like a literary postcard of freedom and joy.”